Local Spotlight: Shedding light on shady utility practices

A new investigation published in the Orlando Sentinel and The Guardian explores the influence utility companies have over our state politics, journalism, and environmental policy.

A trove of leaked documents illustrates how companies bribed ghost candidates, paid for a journalist to be stalked, bought media coverage, and infiltrated non-profit organizations.

“Utilities are powerful political players and apparently they have no qualms about engaging in deceptive practices, unethical practices, and in other cases in illegal practices,” said Ari Peskoe, the director of the Harvard Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School.

In recent years, there were also two high-profile bribery cases involving state lawmakers and utility companies in Ohio and Illinois.

As part of our Local Spotlight series, we investigate the influence utility companies have over our democratic institutions, climate change policy, and our wallets.